GK & Current Affairs Quiz: January 01, 2018

Notes:
Indian golfer Shiv Kapur has won the Royal Cup at Pattaya on December 31, 2017, which is his third Asian Tour title of 2017. Kapur, who had just one win in almost 11 years till April this year, has now won three times in last 8 months. This latest win marks Kapur’s fourth Asian Tour win and sixth international title as he won twice on European Challenge Tour also.

Notes:
Arunachal Pradesh has been officially declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) and has become the second state in the North East after Sikkim to achieve the status. On 1st January 2018, Upper Subansiri, Siang and Changlang were officially declared ODF. The project undertaken under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) SBM (G) saw the light of day only after the state government extended an incentive of Rs 8,000 per toilet. This is in addition to the Centres support of Rs 12,000, raising the grant for constructing a toilet to Rs 20,000. The state government also launched Swachh Arunachal Mission on October 2, 2017 at Tawang which envisaged the Swachh Protocol (Cleanliness Protocol) aimed at ensuring sustainability of assets created under SBM (Gramin). The state has achieved the ODF status before the national target, which is October 2019.

Notes:
The mini-ministerial meeting of WTO members from both rich and developing nations is proposed to be hosted by India in February 2018 to revitalize the multi-lateral trade body. The objective of the meeting is to discuss ways to revitalise the WTO, which is the best available multilateral institution to ensure predictable and transparent system of rule-making in the area of international trade. About 40 WTO member countries are expected to participate in the meeting, which is taking place after collapse of the ministerial talks held in Buenos Aires in December 2017. The meeting would be in the backdrop of rich nations forming groupings to prepare ground for pushing new issues such as investment facilitation, preparing rules for e-commerce, promoting gender equality and reducing subsidy on fisheries.

Notes:
US buyout giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) & Co. has become the first foreign investor to fully own an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) in India as it received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at a time when lenders are fighting with a pile of bad loans that have crippled their businesses. KKR is one of the most aggressive investors in financial services. It has plans to deploy a major chunk from its record Asia fund for buying troubled assets in the country, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Its headquarters is located in New York, United States. An ARC is in the business of acquiring Non-Performing Assets (NPAs). The Banks and an ARC get into an agreement in which the ARC take over the NPAs from the Banks Balance Sheet at a certain amount, lower than the Book Value. After this process, the particular ARC tries to recover this amount from the borrowers.

Notes:
China has launched the world’s largest human genome research project to document the genetic makeup of one lakh people to help generate the precision medicines for the future. The project would detect the genetic links between health and sickness and involve one person from different ethnic backgrounds and regions. The project will collect the genetic data of Han ethnic majority people from all over the country and 9 other ethnic minority groups with a population of more than 5 million. There are about 25,000 human genes and the project aims to decode the hereditary information contained in each. The project includes four stages – collecting, sequencing gene samples, gathering the data and sharing the findings. As per report, the project will conclude all its gene sequencing and analysis within four years, which will also make it the fastest genome engineering project in the world, the report said. The report did not disclose the budget.

Notes:
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Defence Minister, has launched a new state-of-the-art incubation centre “Centre for Entrepreneurship Opportunities and Learning (CEOL)” at Mallikatta in Mangaluru, Karnataka on December 29, 2017. The aim of CEOL is to nurture talent, foster the spirit of innovation and to support young engineers to realize their ideas. This is part of the project ‘Startup Coast’ under which it is proposed to establish innovation centres, incubation set-up, tinkering labs and co-working space for startups on the west coast in Karnataka. The CEOL, which will be managed by the Society headed by Deputy Commissioner, will provide perfect ecosystem for youngsters to work on their ideas. Sitharaman has allocated Rs. 1.5 crore from her MPLAD (Member of Parliament’s Local Area Development) scheme for the development of CEOL. She represents Karnataka as an MP in the Rajya Sabha.

Notes:
Star Sports, India’s leading sports broadcaster, has bagged the broadcast and production rights of Union Sports Ministry’s flagship ‘Khelo India School Games (KISG)’ for a period of five years from 2018 to 2022. The first-ever Khelo India School Games 2018 will be held from January 31 for under-17 age group (boys and girls) across 16 sports disciplines. The purpose of KISG is to inculcate a nationwide culture of sports through a grassroots sports revolution. The KISG 2018 is the marquee event under revamped Khelo India porgramme. The event is expected to host around 6000 athletes and officials in its first edition. The best talent selected through the competition will be amongst the 1000 (one thousand) budding athletes eligible for a scholarship worth 5 lakhs each per year for a period of eight years. Every year, new athletes will be added under the Khelo India scheme. Thus, over the period of the scheme, the country will have a solid bench-strength for all sports.

Notes:
Vidarbha cricket team has created history by winning the 2017 Ranji Trophy tournament with a thumping 9-wicket win over Delhi at the Holkar stadium in Indore on the 4th and penultimate day of their final on January 1, 2018. It is Vidarbha’s first Ranji Trophy title. After conceding a 252-run first innings lead, Delhi were bowled out for 280 in their second innings, setting a target of merely 29 runs for Vidarbha. Vidarbha lost only one wicket and took only five overs to chase down the target which gave them their first Ranji Trophy title. Rajneesh Gurbani’s 6 for 59, including a hat-trick and a century from Akshay Wadkar were the key moments in Vidarbha scripting a fairytale run.

Notes:
The Chamera Dam is located near the town of Dalhousie, in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. It impounds the River Ravi and supports the hydroelectricity project in the region. The reservoir of the dam is the Chamera Lake. The catchment of the dam is 472.5 square kilometres. The reservoir has a live storage capacity of 110 MCN and mean annual inflow of 1,273 BCM. The unique feature of the region is the fluctuating day and night temperature. The temperature during the day near the dam rises up to 35 degrees Celsius and drops to a minimum of 18 to 20 °C at night. The water level in the Chamera Lake rises to a maximum of 763 meters while the minimum water level is 747 meters.

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh will be the theme state for the 32nd Surajkund International Crafts fair, which is scheduled to be held from the first week of February at Faridabad in Haryana. Besides participation of all states, about two dozen countries would also take part in the fair. The aim of fair is to preserve Indian folk traditions and cultural heritage. It also provides a world-class platform for craftsmen from around the world to showcase their skills. The fair would be organised by the Haryana Tourism and Surajkund Fair Authority in collaboration with Union Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture and External Affairs. Renowned folk artists and cultural groups of national and international repute would enthrall tourists with various programmes in the ‘Choupal’ and Open-air theatre located in the fair premises in Surajkund.